“I fell in love,” she confesses, and I can’t hold back my smile. “I wasn’t supposed to, but I did. But I’ve never managed to work up the courage to tell him that I’m in love. Instead, I broke things off, thinking that would be the selfless thing to do. I mean, spending every day alone and waiting for your girlfriend to come home from tour is no way to live, right?” She looks at me and then around at the crowd.
“So I wrote this song, and I’ve been working on it for a while now to express how I feel about this guy. And it goes something like this.” Her hands start moving across the strings and it’s a much slower, sweeter song than what the band normally plays.
* * *
I was lost,
lonely,
broken when I met you, met you.
I was cold,
scared,
broken when I met you, met you.
You walked into that smoky bar
and sucked the air from the room.
You lit my world on fire
and suddenly
there was nothing but you, but you.
* * *
I used to think I was better off alone.
I didn’t need anyone holding me back or keeping me on the phone.
I was born to be free and left to roam,
stumbling through this empty world all alone.
* * *
I was lost,
lonely,
broken when I met you, met you.
I was cold,
scared,
broken when I met you, met you.
You walked into that smoky bar
and sucked the air from the room.
You lit my world on fire
and suddenly
there was nothing but you, but you.
* * *
Now I’m left living on my own again
and I don’t know where to go from here.
I thought I could always count on you.
Now I’m lost,
lonely,
broken again, again.
Now I’m cold,
scared,
broken again, again.
And I don’t know where to go from here.
I don’t know how we got here.
I don’t know how you expect me to make it on my own . . . again.
* * *
Now I’m lost,
lonely,
broken again.
Now I’m cold,
scared,
broken without you.
* * *
The chorus is repeated a couple of times and the instruments begin to wind down, coming to a soft close. The crowd goes wild with cheers and Luna steps back from the mic and wipes the sweat from her face. After taking a few moments to gather herself and let the crowd calm down, she’s right back in front of me.
“Now that you’ve heard the song, I need one more thing from you guys. The guy I’m completely in love with is here.” The audience goes wild. “Help me get him up on stage to tell him face-to-face for the first time that I love him and can’t live without him. Come on guys, let’s get loud!” She raises her arms up and down, egging them on.
I laugh and shake my head as I make my way into the aisle, where a security guard leads me to the stage. The longer it takes me, the more excited the crowd gets, and it’s so loud it’s almost deafening. But I finally make it up there, and I can’t help but look out at the large crowd of people. It’s hot being under the lights, and I suddenly find myself wondering how in the hell she does it. I already feel my legs shaking beneath my weight from having all these eyes on me, and I’m not even here to entertain them.
I’m on the left side of the stage and she’s standing in the middle, watching me with a nervous smile. I can tell she’s happy I’m here, but maybe a little nervous that I’ll turn her down.
The crowd gets quiet when neither of us moves or say anything. Someone hands me a mic but I keep it at my side, wanting to give her the time she needs to say her piece.
“I’m glad you came,” she says into the mic.
I offer up a smile and nod.
She wets her lips and takes a step forward. “Everyone, this is Daniel. Yes, yes, he’s the hot guy from the pictures.” The crowd cheers and laughs.
“I know I said I didn’t want you wasting your life waiting around for me, but I’ve never regretted something so much in my entire life,” she confesses. “I thought that saying those words would make me feel better about being on the road without you. But it didn’t. It made me feel worse because I was afraid of you moving on without me.” She shakes her head. “I now know that I don’t want you moving on without me. I want us moving through life together, even when we can’t be together. And I know this isn’t fair to ask of you, but will you waste your life with me?” She gives me a sweet smile and I can’t help but laugh.
I look out at the crowd and raise the mic to my lips. “What do you guys think? Should I take her up on her offer?”
They scream loudly—some of them jumping and making a loud booming sound that echoes around the theater. I laugh and raise the mic back to my mouth. “Luna, there is no one else I’d rather waste my life with than you.”
Her smile breaks free now and she runs into my arms. Her arms snake around my neck and her legs wrap around my waist. Her mouth smashes against mine and I kiss her like I’ve been dying to all this time. I pour out every last bit of love I have for her, and suddenly, the crowd in front of us vanishes and their screams goes silent. In this moment, there’s no one here but the two of us.
She pulls back and looks me in the eyes. “I love you, Daniel, and I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner.”
“I love you too, Luna,” I reply, moving back in for another kiss.
“Carry me off stage?”
“I’ll carry you anywhere,” I agree, moving us back behind the side curtain where no one can see. The guys follow along behind us and I set her on her feet. They all greet me with high fives and fist bumps.
The stage goes dark but the crowd carries on, screaming for Luna and the guys.
She places her arms on my shoulders. “We have to go back out for one more song. Will you wait here for me?”
“I’ll wait anywhere for you.” I press one more quick kiss to her lips just as the crowd starts chanting. “Encore! Encore! Encore! Encore!”
Lane’s fingers slide across his guitar, and one by one, the band goes back out on stage. Fire bursts up and the music is back full force. I watch from the sidelines as someone hands Luna her guitar and they start playing their big single to wrap up the show.
You couldn’t beat the smile off my face right now. Luna and I are together and will be for the rest of our lives, even if we have to part from time to time. Finally, we know we’re getting our happy ending.
When they finish up on stage, she comes running off, taking my hand and leading me back to her dressing room. When the door closes behind us, she spins me around, pressing my back to the door as her lips find mine.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” she says between kisses. “I have a lot to make up for,” she says as her hands push beneath my jeans. Her hand wraps around me and it causes me to take a hissing breath.
“Fuck, Luna, this is going to be quick,” I tell her, spinning her around and bending her over the back of the couch as I flip up her skirt and lower her panties.
Seconds later, I’m pushing my way inside her, right where I belong. She lets out a sexy moan that has every hair on my body standing on end. Every muscle tightens as I thrust into her, giving her all I’ve got. It only takes minutes before we’re both shattering into a million pieces.
When I remove myself from her, she spins around and kisses me. “That was only a sample of what’s to come, right?”
I laugh and kiss her. “How much time do we have before you need to leave?”
“Well, I was kind of hoping you could join us for a while. Fly home from wherever we are in a week or so?”
I laugh as I lean in fo
r another kiss. “I’ll see what I can do.”
While she packs her things to get back on the bus, I call Calvin and tell him the whole story. He promises that everything will be fine and he’ll drive into the city on Monday to get everything squared away for me. He knows how much this means to me and he’s bending over backwards like I’ve done for him in the past. It’s good to have a partner and friend who’s like family.
When Luna and the band load up on the bus, I’m right there with her, holding her hand as we make our way through the crowd then board the quiet bus. Everyone plops down in a seat and Luna crawls into my lap as we look out the windows at all the people lining the sides of the bus. There are people holding up signs declaring their love for the band. Some people are snapping pictures, and others are just screaming because they’re so excited.
“This is crazy,” I think out loud.
“I know. It blows my mind every night,” Luna says as the bus begins to roll forward.
We stay in the common area of the bus for the first hour, and I’m actually surprised by how chill everything is. When I envisioned rock bands on their tour buses, I always pictured massive parties, drinking, and loud music. But this is nothing like that. The guys are playing games on their phones, taking naps, and talking to their friends, girlfriends, or family members. Luna stands from my lap and takes my hand, leading me to the back of the bus.
“Hey, you guys better not get this bus bumping too much. We’re in motion, you know,” Van teases.
I look at him from over my shoulder but ignore him as Luna pulls me into her bedroom, locking us away from the rest of the band where I plan to be buried inside her all night long.
Nineteen
Luna
Having Daniel on tour with me is better than I’d ever imagined. It’s like I get to have my cake and eat it too, even though I know it can’t last forever. He has a life and a job he needs to go back to, but if I have to live for these short times together, then that’s what I’ll do. It’s better having him in my life like this than nothing at all.
The first night, we do nothing but make love over and over again and sleep. The next morning, waking up in his arms is better than anything in the world. He kisses my shoulder and I roll over to face him, placing my hand on his sharp jaw. “I love you,” I confess again, unable to stop saying it now that those words have escaped.
“I love you too,” he says, moving between my legs.
“When you get back home, you’re going to wait for me, right? We’ll talk every night and try to make this work?”
“It’s the only way. Living without you isn’t an option anymore.” He kisses me as he pushes his way into me, filling me completely.
The week passes by too quickly, and before I know it, it’s the last show Daniel will be attending before flying back to Chicago tomorrow morning. I’m cherishing every last minute I have with him. Now that we both know how the other person feels, we’re no longer holding back about what we want for our future. We’ve decided that we’ll end up married one day far in the future after things begin to calm down with the band. We both want kids, and he even mentioned getting a tour bus just for our family until the kids are old enough to start school, and we’ll buy a house in the city or maybe even closer to Riley and Piper so our kids can all grow up together. It’s a nice vision to think about, but only time will tell if any of it comes true.
I’m reluctant to leave him in my dressing room, but I know we need to start the show, and it feels good knowing he’ll be here when I’m done, so I tell myself to stop being silly.
The guys and I head out, and the crowd comes to life before our very eyes. We run through our usual setlist until we’re about halfway through the show. Then something unexpected happens. I count us down to the next song like I always do, but suddenly, my amp has lost power. I’m hitting the strings, but my guitar is barely making a sound. I step up to the mic to ask what’s going on with the power, but my voice doesn’t echo around the room either. I finally turn around to look at the guys. They’re all looking at me with a smile. Van nods toward the side of the stage, where Daniel’s emerging.
“What are you doing?” I ask with a wide smile on my face.
He drops down to one knee and pulls a small black box out of his pocket. The crowd gasps.
He has a mic in his hand and he raises it to his lips. “Luna, I know we’ve been planning our future with a bunch of “what ifs,” but I got to thinking, Why wait? Why wait to get married when we both want it so badly right now? So during your sound check, I snuck out and found a jewelry store. There’s no more talk of the future. There’s only right now. I love you with every fiber of my being. Will you waste your life with me?” He opens the box and shows me the ring.
Tears fill my eyes and fall over the rims. I look at the crowd and they’re all chanting “YES, YES, YES!”
I cover my mouth and nod my head. I take his mic and say, “YES! Yes, I’ll marry you!”
He slips the ring on my finger and stands up, pulling me against him and pressing his lips against mine. He kisses me like there aren’t thousands of people watching us. With this kiss, I can feel every ounce of love he has for me, and I know that no matter where life takes us, we’ll be together.
He pulls back with a wide smile, which I return. “There’s no one else I’d rather waste my life with than you,” I say, repeating his words back to him.
“Good, because we have a lot of years to waste together. I love you, Luna. More than I could ever express.”
“I love you too, Daniel.”
The crowd before us goes wild with cheers and he pulls me back in one last time.
Breaking up with My Boss SNEAK PEEK
Okay, so taking a golf club to my boss’s precious sports car was probably an overreaction—but damn did it feel good.
However, him showing up to my house to blackmail me into marrying him AFTER he fired me?
WAY out of line.
* * *
If there’s one person that can make me hate my very existence,
It’s Matthew Lewis III, my boss from hell.
Imagine the devil’s younger, sexy brother in a three piece suit.
* * *
He’s the kind of man that makes any sort of rational thought go right out the window—which is exactly where I want to throw him.
* * *
So the morning he tsk tsk’d me for the third time that week for being TWO minutes late,
I lost my shit.
I not only gave him a piece of my mind, I ripped his prissy ass to shreds and marched out with my middle fingers in the air.
Oh, and of course…I destroyed his car.
* * *
So I either face a felony or pretend for a few short months that I love him.
I deserve an f-ing Oscar for this performance.
But after meeting his grandma, I find out Matthew has one giant secret he doesn’t want me to know.
* * *
Game on.
Chapter 1
Poppy
My alarm clock goes off at six on the dot, but I smack the snooze button like I usually do. I’m not much of a morning person. In fact, I loathe mornings and everything that goes with them: breakfast, coffee, newspapers, and overly cheery morning people. The thought of any of it makes me want to gag and puke up the dinner I ate only four hours ago.
As I drift in and out of sleep, I think about what my day will bring. Nothing good, I’m sure. I’ll rush to get ready, probably getting to work late to get bitched out by my boss who I hate almost as much as I hate mornings.
Matthew Lewis the third. He’s the devil himself. He’s good looking, cocky, arrogant, and rich as hell. With a name like that, of course he is. Honestly, I have no idea why he’s even working as a lawyer at the firm. He told Daniel it had more to do with an honest day’s work, being fulfilled, and getting out from under his overbearing father’s thumb. I, personally, think it’s all a crock of shit. I just know the devil put him here
to torture me any way he could. Why would I be on the devil’s radar you ask, I have no idea but I think I did something in my past life that I’m still being punished for today. That’s my best guess, anyway.
The alarm goes off again and this time, I shut the damn thing off and sit up with a groan. “Why does my life suck?” I ask the God’s as I put my feet on the floor. “I swear, I’ll be a better person, I’ll live a better life. Just get me out of this shit job…and winning the lottery wouldn’t hurt, just saying,” I add on to whoever or whatever is listening.
I trudge my way to the shower and step beneath the hot flow of water, letting it rain down over my head to wash my hair and body. After I’m done, I feel like I have some extra time since I didn’t oversleep too much today, so I sit in the bottom of the shower, letting the water warm me from the outside in. Before I know it, I’m warm, comfy, and relaxing in ways I haven’t in forever. The next thing I know, cold water is waking me like I’ve been shocked. I jump up and turn the water off, wrapping myself in a towel as I make my way to the bedroom to get dressed.
My teeth are chattering so much that I wouldn’t be surprised if they broke. I’m too cold to move or do anything so I climb back into bed and pull the blankets around me. “Mmmmm, that’s better,” I mumble to myself as my eyes close. I open them quickly to check the time. 6:30.
Rocking His FAKE World: A Fake Boyfriend, Opposites Attract Romance (Love You Forever Book 3) Page 19